ABSTRACT
The fourth chapter of the guidebook to Metacognitive Reflection and Insight Therapy (MERIT) focuses on research, which has supported MERIT by quantifying metacognition using the Metacognition Assessment Scale-Abbreviated (MAS-A). These methods are detailed and results of a broad range of international studies are presented, which confirm two of MERIT’s basic assertions: (i) persons experiencing different phases of serious mental illness have greater deficits in metacognition relative to community samples and adults with other forms of mental illness, and (ii) these deficits are associated with concurrent and prospective functional impairments, including social function, intrinsic motivation and negative symptoms, independent of symptom severity, and neurocognitive function. Finally, case work is presented which suggests that metacognition is a phenomenon which can improve in response to metacognitively oriented psychological treatment over time.
